Principal Investigator(s):United States Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Summary:

The ongoing Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) provides a
continuous flow of information on the buying habits of American
consumers and also furnishes data to support periodic revisions of the
Consumer Price Index. The survey consists of two separate components:
(1) a quarterly Interview Survey in which each consumer unit (CU) in
the sample is interviewed every three months over a 15-month period,
and (2) a Diary Survey completed by the sample CUs for two consecutive
one-week period... (more info)

The ongoing Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) provides a
continuous flow of information on the buying habits of American
consumers and also furnishes data to support periodic revisions of the
Consumer Price Index. The survey consists of two separate components:
(1) a quarterly Interview Survey in which each consumer unit (CU) in
the sample is interviewed every three months over a 15-month period,
and (2) a Diary Survey completed by the sample CUs for two consecutive
one-week periods. The Interview Survey was designed to collect data on
major items of expense, household characteristics, and income. The
expenditures covered by the survey are those that respondents can
recall fairly accurately for three months or longer. In general, these
expenditures include relatively large purchases, such as those for
property, automobiles, and major appliances, or expenditures that occur
on a fairly regular basis, such as rent, utilities, or insurance
premiums. Expenditures incurred while on trips are also covered by the
survey. Excluded are nonprescription drugs, household supplies, and
personal care items. Including global estimates on spending for food,
it is estimated that about 90 to 95 percent of expenditures are covered
in the Interview Survey. The Detailed Expenditure (MTAB) files that
comprise this data collection were created from all the major
expenditure sections of the Interview Survey questionnaires. These
files contain more detailed expenditure records than those found in the
Interview Survey data. In addition, the Detailed Expenditure files
include Family Characteristics and Income (FMLY) files and Member
Characteristics and Income (MEMB) files identical to those found in the
Interview Survey.

Universe:
Total civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the
United States.

Data Types:
survey data

Methodology

Sample:
The Consumer Expenditure Survey is based on a national
probability sample of households. Households are selected from primary
sampling units (PSUs), which consist of counties (or parts thereof),
groups of counties, or independent cities. The set of sample PSUs used
for the survey is composed of 101 areas, of which 85 urban areas have
also been selected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Consumer
Price Index program. The sampling frame from which housing units were
selected was generated from the 1980 Census 100-percent detail file,
augmented by new construction permits and coverage improvement
techniques used to eliminate recognized deficiencies in that census.
The sample design is a rotating panel survey in which one-fifth of the
sample is dropped and a new group added each quarter. Each panel is
interviewed for five consecutive quarters and then dropped from the
survey.

Data Source:

personal interviews

Version(s)

Original ICPSR Release:1993-02-12

Version History:

2006-01-12 All files were removed from dataset 57 and flagged as study-level files, so that they will accompany all downloads.

2006-01-12 All files were removed from dataset 56 and flagged as study-level files, so that they will accompany all downloads.